Shutter structure

ABSTRACT

An ornamental shutter formed from a thin sheet of plastic material and the like. Margins of the shutter are formed to provide a rigidifying frame, and portions of the margin are disposed substantially coplanar with the back of the shutter for abutting a wall or surface so that the shutter may be secured by driving a fastener through such portion to the wall.

United States Patent lnventor Cyril L. Johnston 5 Arlington Heights, 111. Appl. No. 829,019 Filed May 29,1969 388185 1,400,882 Patented June 15, 1971 2 792 164 Assignee Leslie Building Products, Inc. 2,889,651 3,191,242 3,455,079 3,461,629 3,473,274

SHUTTER STRUCTURE 5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 52/473, 52/314, 52/506 Int. Cl E06b 7/08, E06b 9/02 Field of Search 52/473,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Kinnear Klauer Cauffiel Baldanza.

Rauen Frederick Smith Godes Primary Examiner- Price C. Faw, J r. Atzorney-Olson, Trexler, Wolters and Bushnell 52/521 52/521 52/630X 52/316 UX 52/473 52/473 52/314 52/127 ABSTRACT: An ornamental shutter formed from a thin sheet of plastic material and the like. Margins of the shutter are formed to provide a rigidifying frame, and portions of the margin are disposed substantially coplanar with the back of the shutter for abutting a wall or surface so that the shutter may be secured by driving a fastener through such portion to the wall.

SHUTTER STRUCTURE The present invention relates to a novel ornamental shutter, and more specifically to a novel shutter of the type adapted to be secured to a wall adjacent a window opening and the like.

Ornamental shutters have long been widely used for decorating windows and the like of houses or other buildings Such shutters have usually been made of wood and require painting or other maintenance at relatively frequent intervals. In order to minimize manufacturing costs and maintenance, it has been proposed to form shutters from sheets of plastic material. When relatively thin sheets of plastic material are used, it has heretofore been necessary to combine the sheets with a wood frame for strength and rigidity and also for providing the shutter with means through which nails or other fastening devices could be driven for securing the shutter to the building.

It is an important object of the preset invention to provide a novel ornamental shutter construction which may be economically formed from relatively thin sheet material such as plastic and the like and which is constructed so as to enable the shutter to be secured to a wall or other suitable support surface without requiring the sheet material to be affixed to a wooden frame or the like.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel relatively thin sheet material ornamental shutter formed to present integral peripheral margin or frame sections constructed for providing the shutter with increased strength and rigidity and having portions disposed for substantially abutting a wall or other support surface and adapted to have fastening means driven theretrough for securing the shutter to the support surface.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing ornamental shutters incorporating features of the present invention secured against a wall at opposite sides ofa window;

FIG, 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view partially broken away showing the novel shutter structure in greater detail;

FIG, 5 is an elevational view showing a modified form of the present-invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a portion of the embodiments of FIGS. 5 and 6.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts are designated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, shutters l0 incorporating features of the present invention are shown in FIG. 1 secured against a wall 12 of a house or other building at opposite sides of a window 14. The wall 12 may be of any kriown construction and need not be described in detail, but it is noted that the wall provides a support surface against which the shutters are secured.

The shutter is formed from a single piece of relatively thin sheet material. Preferably, a thermoplastic sheet material is used. The construction which will be described more in detail below is such that the sheet material may be rapidly and economically formed by vacuum molding techniques to produce the shutter.

The shutter 10 has a central generally rectangular panel 16 bounded by upper and lower marginal or frame sections 18 and 20 and opposite side marginal or frame sections 22 and 24. The central panel 16 may be substantially flat or, if desired, it may be embossed or formed to provide any desired design. In the embodiment shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, the central panel 16 is formed with a plurality of vertically spaced downwardly and outwardly inclined sections 26 having adjacent margins joined by horizontal sections 28 arranged to simulate the appearance of louvers. As indicated, these louver sections may be replaced by other designs, if desired.

The upper marginal or frame section 18 is provided with inner and outer inverted U-shaped portions 30 and 32. As shown best in FIG. 2, the U-shaped portion 30 has leg sections 34 and 36 extending transversely of the plane of the shutter for strengthening and rigidifying the structure. These leg sections are joined by a relatively short bight portion 38 coplanar with the outer surface of the shutter. The U-shaped section 32 is similarly constructed with leg sections 40 and 42 joined by a short bight portion 44.

The margin or frame section 18 has an elongated central portion 46 which is offset from the outer surface of the shutter and, more specifically, extends from integral junctions with inner edges of the leg sections 36 and 40 and is substantially coplanar with the inner surface of the shutter. As shown in FIG. 2, the portion 46 is adapted to abut against the support surface of the wall 12. Since the relatively thin and therefore flexible sheet material portion 46 is located so as to abut the wall, it is supported by the wall and is thus adapted to have nails 48, screws or other fastening elements driven therethrough for securing the shutter to the wall as shown in FIG. 2. While relative dimensions of the marginal or frame section elements may be modified, the transverse dimension or width of each bight portion 38 and 44 is preferably substantially less than the corresponding transverse dimension of their associated leg sections or, in other words, the overall thickness of the shutter. Furthermore, the transverse dimension or width of the attachment or nailing portion 46 is a small percentage of the overall width or length of the shutter.

The bottom and opposite side marginal or frame sections 20, 22 and 24 are constructed in the same manner as the upper frame section 18. Thus, the bottom frame section is provided with inner and outer inverted U-shaped portions 50 and 52 having inner margins of adjacent legs joined by a depressed attachment or nailing portion 54 coplanar with section 46. Side frame section 22 has inner and outer inverted U-shaped portions 56 and 58 with inner leg sections 60 and 62 thereof joined by a depressed attachment or nailing portion 64. The opposite side frame section 24 similarly includes inverted U- shaped sections 66 and 68 having adjacent legs 70 and 72 joined by attachment section 74. As will be understood, any desired number of nails or other fastener 48 may be driven through the attachment sections 46, 54, 64 and 74 at spaced intervals in order to securely fasten the shutter against the wall 12.

In FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 there is shown a modified embodiment of the present invention which is similar to the structure described above as indicated by the application of identical reference numerals with the suffix a added to corresponding elements. In this embodiment the attachment or nailing portions 46a, 54a, 64a and 740 do not extend for the full length of their respective frame sections. More specifically, these attachment portions comprise bottoms of relatively small pockets 76, 78, and 82 formed in central web portions 84, 86, 88 and 90 of the margin or frame sections. After fasteners are driven through the attachment sections as shown in FIG. 6, the pockets may be filled with putty or any other suitable material so that the shutter presents a frame with a flush surface or, if desired, the pockets may be left exposed so as to provide the shutter with an interesting design.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein, it is obvious that many structural details may be changed.

The invention I claim as follows:

1. A shutter construction for attachment to a wall and the like comprising a one-piece member of thin flexible sheet material of predetermined thickness including a central panel section, and frame sections bounding and integral with said panel section, each of said frame sections comprising spaced inner and outer inverted U-shaped portions providing the shutter construction with a substantial thickness many times greater than the thickness of the sheet material, said inner and outer inverted U-shaped portions extending substantially the full length of their respective frame sections for bounding the entire periphery of said central panel section, and attachment portions substantially coplanar with and defining an inner surface of the shutter construction for abutting a wall against which the shutter construction is to be secured, said attachment portion extending between and integrallyjoining adjacent legs of the inner and outer U-shaped portions of said frame sections and being sufficiently wide to permit a fastener to be driven therethrough and into said wall.

2. A shutter, as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said U- saped portions includes a pair of leg elements joined by a bight portion having a transverse width substantially less than the length of said leg elements.

3. A shutter construction for attachment to a wall and the like comprising a one-piece member of thin flexible sheet material of predetermined thickness including a central panel section, frame sections bounding and integral with said panel section, said frame sections including an attachment portion substantially coplanar with and defining an inner surface of the shutter construction for abutting a wall against which the shutter construction is to be secured, said attachment portion completely circumscribing the periphery of said central panel section, inner upstanding wall means integrally formed with and joining the outer periphery of said central panel section and the inner marginal edge of said attachment portion, and outer upstanding wall means integrally formed with the outer marginal edge of said attachment portion.

4. A shutter construction, as defined in claim 3, wherein said inner upstanding wall means comprises an inverted U- shaped portion having leg portions the otherwise free ends of which are integrally formed with the periphery of said central panel section and the inner marginal edge of said attachment portions respectively.

5. A shutter construction, as defined in claim 3, wherein said outer upstanding wall means comprises an inverted U- shaped portion having leg portions, the otherwise free end of one of said leg portions being integrally formed with the outer marginal edge of said attachment portion. 

1. A shutter construction for attachment to a wall and the like comprising a one-piece member of thin flexible sheet material of predetermined thickness including a central panel section, and frame sections bounding and integral with said panel section, each of said frame sections comprising spaced inner and outer inverted U-shaped portions providing the shutter construction with a substantial thickness many times greater than the thickness of the sheet material, said inner and outer inverted Ushaped portions extending substantially the full length of their respective frame sections for bounding the entire periphery of said central panel section, and attachment portions substantially coplanar with and defining an inner surface of the shutter construction for abutting a wall against which the shutter construction is to be secured, said attachment portion extending between and integrally joining adjacent legs of the inner and outer U-shaped portions of said frame sections and being sufficiently wide to permit a fastener to be driven therethrough and into said wall.
 2. A shutter, as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said U-saped portions includes a pair of leg elements joined by a bight portion having a transverse width substantially less than the length of said leg elements.
 3. A shutter construction for attachment to a wall and the like comprising a one-piece member of thin flexible sheet material of predetermined thickness including a central panel section, frame sections bounding and integral with said panel section, said frame sections including an attachment portion substantially coplanar with and defining an inner surface of the shutter construction for abutting a wall against which the shutter construction is to be secured, said attachment portion completely circumscribing the periphery of said central panel section, inner upstanding wall means integrally formed with and joining the outer periphery of said central panel section and the inner marginal edge of said attachment portion, and outer upstanding wall means integrally formed with the outer marginal edge of said attachment portion.
 4. A shutter construction, as defined in claim 3, wherein said inner upstanding wall means comprises an inverted U-shaped portion having leg portions the otherwise free ends of which are integrally formed with the periphery of said central panel section and the inner marginal edge of said attachment portions respectively.
 5. A shutter construction, as defined in claim 3, wherein said outer upstanding wall means comprises an inverted U-shaped portion having leg portions, the otherwise free end of one of said leg portions being integrally formed with the outer marginal edge of said attachment portion. 